Monday, February 6, 2023

ChatGPT's Potential Future in Education and Government



We've all heard of ChatGPT. Some of us might have used it once or twice, perhaps just to dip your toes in the water and see it for yourself, or maybe write up a little text based narrative, maybe for homework help, or even important life decisions. Or even, used it to do a little cheaty-cheat here and there. However, it is capable of so much more. It can do a wide array of things among those listed above, but some of the more useful features are explaining complex topics simply, guessing and/or diagnosing medical issues, writing accurate code, writing emails, ads, blog posts(not this one though), up to entire essays. With a myriad of potential, the sky's the limit. But before the current potential issue with it, a little bit on how it works. 


Created by OpenAI, ChatGPT is, at its heart, an AI based chatbot. From my own, limited understanding of AI, ChatGPT mimics human behavior by studying and analyzing an unimaginable amount of data, and then generates a response to a question asked of it using that data and its own kind of learning. But here is a more professional explanation: "The program uses a deep learning technique called "transformer architecture" to sift through several terabytes of data that contain billions of words to create answers to prompts or questions. ChatGPT's predecessors include GPT-3, which also generates text, but has been trained on a much larger set of data. While this makes GPT-3 more powerful, ChatGPT is faster, more capable of generating human-like answers, and is available to the public. The bot works in the same way that AI generator tools like DALL-E 2, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion do - but much like how those programs can create unrealistic images, ChatGPT is not always accurate." As it states, the AI is not an omnipotent being, and is wrong on occasion, as I have seen before. However, there is no denying its infinite usefulness, especially when it comes to the schoolzone battleground.


Many students around the world have differing opinions on the uses and applications of ChatGPT. However, common consensus is that it's a fun toy to experiment with, it can provide decent help and writing, and, of course, is a tool that can be used for cheating. However, the differing opinions were present, too, boiling down to these 2 main contenders: AI is the future, and is only beginning, and AI is some kind of crutch that will destroy our motivation and ability to do things. Both of these have merit, and really the only way to know is the passage of time. Here are some of those student sentiments: "In almost all classes in school, ChatGPT should not be used. As it continues to get better and better, ChatGPT will be doing work that the student should do for them." and "I’ve had experience using ChatGPT before and it’s been really helpful for me: When using it for personal questions, joke questions, or help on school assignments, it helps me gather research or understand the topic a lot better and faster …"


Onto how it relates here, though. AI will inevitably find its way into the workforce, and actually do what many fear most: replacing jobs. And from there, will undoubtedly come regulations and such. On the topic of regulations, in the regulatory process, there is a time period for comments and whatnot before said regulations take effect. Supposedly, humans are making these comments. However, interested parties might be able to wield ChatGPT and flood the system. As Washington Post states: "There is no law against using software to aid in the production of public comments, or legal documents for that matter, and if need be a human could always add some modest changes." Hardly the only area AI can use as a playground, another example of the potential plethora is something we're familiar with: grassroots lobbying. No longer will actual people have to compose letters and emails to their local lawperson, a computer can do it for them - and possibly even better, at that. Obviously, that would eventually pose problems due to the astroturfing nature of something like that.  


Though ChatGPT has no opinions and emotions of its own, from its current understanding of itself, this is what it had to say about its educational use and cheating:

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Here is another example of its "opinion", or more accurately, analysis on government related uses: 

So enough from me, what are your opinions on AI? Is it the future, or our doom?

10 comments:

Julia Cho said...

ChatGPT seemingly has the ability to perform endless tasks, especially within the range of a classroom, which can generate text for chatbots, language translation, and other content creation. Although the utilization of AI may be useful for mundane, fairly simple tasks(like writing an email), ChatGPT may occasionally write plausible-sounding yet drastically incorrect answers. For more complicated tasks, I highly doubt ChatGPT could prove to replace the human thought. Many AI programs contain this limitation... so how far can ChatGPT truly go? Although I doubt the AI program can replace humans, there is also the problem in its lack of morals. Not only does it increase plagiarism amongst students, but access to such an AI program can be an unfair advantage to certain students over others. However, in all, it is not the program itself that is dangerous but, instead, how it is utilized. The program should never be relied upon as a trustful source due to possibly present biases, and inaccurate information-- but, it is simply those that exploit the program for backhanded reasons that raise the question of whether it is moral or not...

Truman Lee said...

Personally, I think ChatGPT is an extremely powerful and useful tool. Although it is definitely not a substitute for a human mind it still is capable of helping humans in an educational situation. The speed and conciseness of ChatGPT makes it really good for situations when you need an important bite sized piece of information. However, it is inevitable that such a strong piece of technology will be used in a wrong way. Instead of looking down on the integration of AI in modern day education I think we should restructure our education system to welcome AI and have future students interact in a positive way with AI.

Christien Wong said...

Like many other people in support of Chat GPT, it is an imperfect AI model that has amazed everyone with its capabilities to accomplish complex tasks. It seems like the entire world is moving towards AI and the abilities of algorithms like Chat GPT. In a world powered by AI, it seems futile to continue to teach students the same way that they have been for decades. I agree with Truman and Julia in that as society continues to advance, education also needs to be updated to prepare students for a more modern world where bots like Chapt GPT will be commonplace. It doesn't mean that students should be 100% reliant on the bot though, as it still seems to lack innate human traits like morals and creativity. During the next few years, we will have to see if Chap GPT is able to disrupt more institutions and industries and see if AI is really the future.

Bonnie Huang said...

I agree with others about the usefulness of ChatGPT, but I doubt it can go very far. Just from my own experiences with ChatGPT and what I've observed from other people's experiences, I doubt it'll go anything farther than being a poorly hidden backseat writer. Because of it's algorithmic nature, what it spits out in response to certain questions lacks the nuance and human touch that self written answers do. Even when people rewrite it, its formulaic nature makes it incredibly easy to tell what was written by a person, and what was written with a formula. I've seen posts on Canvas (college) discussions get deleted purely because the professor was able to tell that the student was using ChatGPT. That being said, AI bots are something new, and it's always exciting to see how they do things. Watching Midjourney paint pictures that mimic well known art styles is something quite mesmerizing, and poking ChatGPT to try to get around its limitations is entertaining, but until AI advances as a whole, I see it as a fun gimmick and not something that's strong enough to replace jobs.

Jordan Lee said...

I think personally the idea of ChatGPT is great especially in terms of medical advancements and help. I think it is great use for doctors to have access to in cases that they need another opinion or help with to heal their patients. However, I also agree with what others have said, I think it's just too soon to heavily rely on it. I think that with ChatGPT kinks still need to be worked out before it can truly be taken "Seriously". As said right now many people are using it for fun to "test the waters" which I don't think was its intention. I really don't think it is advanced enough to take over any jobs yet purely because of its lack of reliability and as Bonnie said its lack of human touch. It's a good tool I think to help aid people, but I don't think it is something to rely on. I am excited to see where and how advanced AI will be in the future because so far ChatGPT is a great stepping stone.

Arav Agarwal said...

I find that ChatGTP is a great new implementation of AI that showcases the power of technology in this new modern era. Its uses are widespread, and can truly help many companies, organizations, and individuals much more efficient and effective. As for its role in the educational space, I think it has great potential to do good, and equal, if not greater, potential to do bad. As the world starts to grow and learn to live with AI, I believe that there will emerge some sort of regulations and restrictions that will limit the role of AI in the educational field. Regardless, there are a myriad of ways to cheat and plagiarize today, and that will remain for years to come, its simply how humans handle that freedom and resource.

Sophie Cohen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sophie Cohen said...

ChatGPT should be regarded as a huge technological accomplishment, but I agree with what Bonnie said about its lack of human touch. Around a month ago, I came across a video of someone attempting to write a CommonApp essay through ChatGPT. Although I was impressed by the software's ability to put together a coherent essay based off of the information it was given, ChatGPT's response came across as a very rough draft. That being said, I think that ChatGPT has the potential to alter and improve politics. Politicians can utilize ChatGPT to generate speeches, policy proposals, and press releases, in a more timely manner. Furthermore, ChatGPT can analyze large amounts of data and trends, increasing politicians understanding towards certain issues.

Nickalus Ketcham said...

Overall, like Jordan and Sophie said, Chat GPT has the potential to revolutionize a wide range of industries and applications, making it an exciting and valuable tool for businesses and individuals alike. As the technology continues to improve and evolve, it will be fascinating to see the many ways in which Chat GPT can be used to make our lives easier and more productive. It is also always learning and adapting, getting better at its ability to understand and respond to natural language. Chat GPT can provide people with a personalized, responsive experience that rivals that of true human to human interactions. With its ability to access the entirety of the internet, Chat GPT can answer practically any question, or pass any tests (as seen with law bar). It will only get better, highlighting the way in which artificial intelligence has the ability to revolutionize our world.

Andrew Vattuone said...

AI is here to stay, and I think the question is what will it’s uses be, and what impact will it have on education. I think schools will need to develop policies which prevent students from turning in papers written with ChatGTP, but will struggle to police it. I can see it being incorporated into lesson plans where a teacher can use it to develop content for a lecture for the class on a given topic. The challenge with a technology like this is where to draw the line, both in the classroom and in the workplace. Companies will strive to do whatever is most efficient, so if there are things they can do with ChatGTP, such as writing and sending out e-mails for a marketing campaign, they likely will. No technology can be truly autonomous without some oversight and management to make it work, so I would not expect it to replace jobs quickly, but there are some jobs which will change as a result over time.